Mayor Michal Bloomberg and the Lieutenant Governor David Paterson themselves turned out to flip the switch on the so called first kinetic hydropower project for local business in late June this year. The project is in the East River and uses its strong tidal currents, which at times have even been so strong so as to damage the turbines. This isn’t a challenge for the project as the turbines were designed to be easily taken out of the water for servicing. The total amount of Kinetic Hydropower Systems or KHPS for short is expected to grow from the handful currently in the river to hopefully someday 300 providing up to 10 MW of renewable energy. This would be enough to power 8,000 households in the city.
The developers of the project however have even more ambitious goals to someday even make New York a totally energy independent city, the first such metropolis. While these dreams are still a long way off, they no doubt have the support of Mayor Bloomberg who is aiming to make New York a greener place.
For additional information:
http://www.verdantpower.com/what-initiative www.verdantpower.com
